The world seemed on the brink of catastrophe when John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Today we are confronted with our own cataclysmic moment in time. Steinbeck’s compassionate explorations of inequality, poverty-induced human migration, and environmental degradation yield insights we are at pains to grasp. As perhaps no other novelist before or since, Steinbeck had a fundamental ecological awareness. His work asks us to consider what it means to be an individual within the vast body of aggregate humanity. He shows us that people are not separate from the land on which we tread, and in fact share a common fate.

This symposium brings together scholars and public intellectuals to consider Steinbeck’s environmental legacy. Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley and attended Stanford University. He studied English, History, and Biology, subjects that find a unique fusion in his work. We will explore Steinbeck’s biography and narrative experiments, considering, as he did, how local issues reflect on much broader questions. Featured presentations include:

The symposium will feature an exhibit of rare books and original manuscripts from the Department of Special Collections at Stanford Libraries. The exhibit explores Steinbeck's writing career and the influence of his friendship with marine biologist Edward Ricketts on some of his best known works.

In advance of the event, we encourage you to read (or re-read) the following selections from Steinbeck’s works, including: